Voice assembly for stuffed toys



June 3, 1958 A. P. RAGAZZO VOICE ASSEMBLY FOR STUFFED TOYS Filed Jan. 4, 1955 v IN VEI V TOR. W MW Wfi f m VOICE ASSEMBLY FOR STUFFED TOYS Alfred Ragazzo, Elrnont, N. Y., assignor to Wintriss This invention relates to pneumatic sound makers and to their installation intoys, more. especially stufied toys, such as dolls.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved pneumatic sound maker assembly and an improved combinatiorr of the sound maker with a toy that has a resilient, flexible skin. One advantage of the construction is that it reduces the costfof makingv the toy; and another advantage is thatthe invention prevents particles of the stufling of the toy from. getting into the sound maker and interfering with, its operation.

Another feature of'the'invention relates to the method by which the soundfmaker assembly is attached to the toy. The invention makesit no longer necessary to use a bored neck block for holding the sound maker in a doll,

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or bepointed. out asthe description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a parthereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views; a r

Figure; l is a side view,- mostly'in section, showing a doll with which the sound maker assembly is combined;

Figure 2 is a sectional view through the skin of the doll for illustrating the method by which the sound maker is connected to the skin; a

Figure 3 is-a' greatly. enlarged sectional view of the sound maker assembly when clamped to the skin of the doll or other toy, the section being taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 4;

Figure 4 is an end view of the assembly from the line 4 4 of Figure. 3; and Y Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 3. t

, neck block 18-, it was conventional to provide a bore in the block-for receiving a pneumatic sound maker; and a connecting bore-has been used for putting the inner end of the :firstborein communication with the interior of the doll body so that when the body is squeezed, air is displaced from the interior of the doll through the bores in the neck block to actuate the sound maker. With, such constructions, an opening through the skin has been 'provided at the neck in alignment with the neck block bore in which the sound maker is located. With this invention, the neck block 18 can be a solid block, and this reduces the cost of the block.

The sound maker assembly includes a casing, 20 with slots, 22 at its inner end for the passage of air into and out. of a chamber in the casing. These slots 22 are narrow, sorthat the stufling 16 can not enter the casing 20 and United States Patent C the casing, though this has advantages in the manufacture of the casing.

At the outer end of the casing 26, there is a radially extending face 26 which bears against the inside surface of the skin 15. An eyelet 28 telescopes into the casing 20 and has a flange 30 with a radially extending face that confronts the casing face 26 to clamp the skin 15 between the radial faces of the casing 20' and the eyelet 30, as best shown in Figure 3. t

The outside diameter of the axial portion of the eyelet 28 is slightly.1ess than the inside diameter of the end portion of the casing 20 into which the eyelet 28 extends. This difference in diameter provides a clearance which is preferably a little less than the undistorted thickness of the skin 15. Portions of the skin 15, which are displaced into the clearance between the axial surfaces of the casing 20 and eyelet 28, are compressed and firmly clamped by the telescoping of the eyelet 28 into the casing 20. This telescoping is continued until theflange 36 firmly clamps the surrounding skin 15 against the annular and radially extending face 26 of the casing 29.

This telescoping of the eyelet into the end of the casing 20 provides a wedging together of the parts, which is so tight that it makes a permanent connection for holding the casing 24 in assembled relation with the doll. The face 26 is wide enough to keep the casing 20 in a position substantially normal to the surface of the skin 15 at the locationwhere the casing is attached to the skin.

Although not essential, it is desirable to have the casing 20 of larger diameter at its outer end so as to provide a greater radial width for the face of the casing which contacts with the inside surface of the skin. The internal diameter of the casing 2%) in which the sound maker is to be located, is made with a cross section for receiving a standard size of vibrating reed sound maker.

Figure 3 shows a sound maker 35 having a channel 36 and a reed 37. The inner end of the reed 37 is attached to flanges, on the channel 36, by tabs 39 bent around the edges of the channel. Beyond the channel 36 and reed 37 the sound maker has a round tubular end portion 42. A tongue 44, on the inner end of the reed 37, is bent at right angles to the reed for closing the end of the tubular portion 42 above the reed.

The tubular portion 42 has protuberances 46 formed by the displacing areas of the tubular wall outwardly.

In the construction shown, the protuberances 46 are circumferentially extending corrugations and these are preferable to discontinuous protuberances because they prevent any substantial leakage of air around the outside of the tubular portion 42. The sound maker is prefer-' ably constructed with an open seam 48 (Figure 5) which provides for some variation in the diameter of the tubular portion. 42. This widens the permissible manufacturing tolerances in the construction of the parts.

The. chamber in the casing 29, in which the sound maker 35 is located, is designated by the reference characa chamber of larger diameter so that the channel 36 and reed 37 are spaced from the sides of the chamber 50. The protuberances 46 are axially spaced from one another so as to provide more stability and they have sufiicient radial extent to keep the channel 36 and reed 37 out of contact with the side wall of the chamber in spite of manufacturing tolerances in the sound maker. The clearance of the channel 36 and reed 37 from the side wall of the chamber 50 is best illustrated in Figure 5.

The method by which the casing 20 is attached to the skin 15 is best illustrated in Figure 2. The casing 20,

with the sound maker 35 located therein, is held in a fixed position by an anvil 60. The skin 15 of the doll body is placed over the anvil 60 and the casing 20 farenough to locate the casing at the region of the skin where the attachment is to be made. With a doll, the sound maker assembly is preferably attached to the back of the doll a short distance below the neck. The doll shown in the drawing is merely representative of stuffed toys, and the location of the sound maker at the back of the doll is representative of a location at an inconspicuous part of the toy. There is an opening 64 (Figure 1) at the upper end of the skin 15, and this opening can be stretched sufficiently to pass the skin over the anvil 60 and casing 20 in order to bring the skin into the position shown in Figure 2.

The eyelet 28 is placed on a tool 66 which has a needle 68 extending from its lower end. A sleeve 70 fits around the tool 66. The tool 66, needle 68, and sleeve 70 move downwardly as a unit, and they are guided by mechanical guides, not illustrated, along the axis of the casing 20. The needle 68 pierces the skin 15 and the continued downward movement of the tool assembly brings the end of the eyelet 28 against the skin 15 around the pierced opening. The eyelet stretches the skin around the opening downwardly into the upper portion of the casing 20 and compresses the displaced skin into the clearance between the axial face of the eyelet and the confronting inside face of the chamber 50. This makes the opening through the skin as large as the eyelet.

The continued downward movement of the tool assembly, with the lower end face of the sleeve 70, forcing the eyelet 28 further into the casing 20, eventually brings the flange of the eyelet 28 against the outside surface of the skin 15 and clamps the skin between this flange and the upper end face of the casing 24}, as previously described.

The sleeve 70 then remains in position so as to serve as a stripper while the tool 66 is pulled upwardly and out of the eyelet 28. The needle 68 may extend downwardly beyond the upper end of the sound maker 35 when the tool assembly is at its lowermost position, but this does not affect the sound maker because the needle merely enters the hollow interior of the tubular portion 42 (Figure 3).

The skin 15, with the casing 20 attached to it, is then moved upwardly in Figure 2, to lift the casing 20 from the anvil 60, or the anvil can be constructed with a slot opening through its end on one side so as to permit removal of the casing 20 by transverse displacement.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made, and some features can be used in diiferent combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination, with a stuffed toy having a resilient flexible skin, of a casing located in the stufling, said casing having an elongated hollow chamber therein open at its outer end and with an annular face around the opening at said outer end, the casing having a wall at the inner end of the chamber with openings through said wall for passage of air, the openings being narrow o preven en ran e of stufiings into the casing, an eyelet having a flange with an annular face which confronts the outer end face of the casing and having a generally cylindrical and axially extending portion that fits into the chamber and that has a face confronting a portion of the length of the wall of the chamber, the inner end of the eyelet extending through an opening in the skin of the toy and the chamber being secured to the toy by skin around the edges of the opening clamped between .the annular faces of the casing and eyelet and clamped also between the wall of the chamber and the axially extending face of the eyelet, and a reed and channel sound maker that fits within the chamber.

2. The combination described in claim 1 and in which the channel of the pneumatic sound maker includes a tubular end portion beyond the end of the reed, the chamber being longer than the sound maker and having a cross section into which the tubular portion of the sound maker fits with a press fit, the openings in the inner end of the casing being narrow slots opening through a portion of the casing inward from the tubular portion of the sound maker for admitting air to the sound maker, and the casing having an enlarged diameter at its outer end for receiving the axially extending portion of the eyelet.

3. The combination described in claim 1 and in which the pneumatic sound maker includes a tubular end portion beyond the reed and with protuberances formed on the end portion by outwardly displaced areas of the wall of the tubular end portion, the cross section of the tubular portion plus the extent of theprotuberances being substantially greater than the width of the reed and channel, the casing being longer than the sound maker and the pneumatic sound maker fitting therein with a press fit and with the protuberances holding the pneumatic sound maker in a centered position with respect to the cross section of the chamber so that the reed and channel are p at a substantial clearance from the wall of the chamber.

4. A sound maker assembly for use in a stulfed toy which has a resilient, flexible skin, the assembly comprising a reed and channel pneumatic sound maker, a casing for holding the pneumatic sound maker, the casing having a radially extending end face and having a portion for receiving an eyelet, an eyelet having-an axial sur- 'face with a clearance from a contronting axial surface "of the casing less than the undistorted thickness of the 5. The pneumatic sound maker assembly described in claim 4 and in which the chamber is slightly less in cross 7 section than that of the pneumatic sound maker so that the sound maker fits the chamber with a press fit.

-6. The sound maker assembly described in claim 4 and in which the perforations in the end wall of the casing are elongated and narrow openings, inthe end wall and there are protuberances on the sound maker which increase the cross section of the sound maker so that it fits the chamber with a press fit, and there is an enlarged diameter portion at the outer end of the casing for receiving the eyelet.

7. The pneumatic sound maker assembly described in claim 4 and in which the sound maker has a round tubular end portion at one end of the channel beyond the reed, protuberances on the tubular end portion formed by outwardly displaced areas of the wall of the tubular end portion, the diameter of the tubular end portion plus the radial extent of the protuberances being substantially greater than the width of the channel, the perforations in the casing being narrow openings for the passage of and the chamber for the sound maker having a cross air,

section of a size to receive the tubular end portion of the sound maker with a press fit.

8. The method of attaching a pneumatic sound maker to a'stuifed toy which has a thin, flexible skin, which method comprises inserting a sound maker into an openended casing having an axially extending wall and a radially extending face near one end, bringing an eyelet that has both axial and radial faces into position to confront the radial face of the casing with the casing and the eyelet on opposite sides of an imperforate portion of the skin of the toy, pressing a tool through the opening in the eyelet and through the imperfo rate skin of the toy, and into the open end of the casing, to provide .a pierced opening in the skin, and following the move- 3 ment of the tool through the skin, and as one operation therewith, by pressing the eyelet through the skin and telescoping the longitudinal portions of the casing and eyelet one into the other, and by such telescoping, stretch- References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS Rau- Jan. 10, 1939 Wintress July 5, 1955 

